OCR Text

New Braunfels Herald Zeitung (Newspaper) - December 11, 1984, New Braunfels, Texas
8 New Braunfels Herald-Ze/Yiyny Tuesday, December 11,1984
Bloom CounP/
Dear Abby
ma rn rn sr nick on his mn) A bib ar K-rnr."
Uninformed Dentists Force Patients to Pay Terrible Price
FEARLESSLY WE POLL the mer/pE king THROUGH we AIR .MATS on meet? that? twos
NOT MB ‘
smtpopy mo SINGING SILENT NIGHT* TV THE MELOW Of THE "STAR TREK'
i molt? PEEL off emu...rn
VULCAN REINDEER
,rKinCr /, po rn ber
OtMcd " OFFENPEP.
5m
TOTTYHEAP
15 MIXING
DEAR READERS: If you have «■' dentures, skip this column. But if you still have your own teeth and want to keep them, you may be glad you read it:
DEAR ABBY: I am sitting here after work, emotionally drained and physically exhausted, but I must write this letter because so many people need to be educated. I am a dental hygienist who is currently seeing a flock of new patients because two elderly dentists in this community are no longer practicing. (One retired and the other one died.)
These patients had complete faith in their dentists only to come to us and find that it was in vain. They are victims of dentists who did not keep up with current dentistry.
Most of these patients saw their dentist regularly—twice a year for checkups and cleaning—some for 20 to .‘IO years! They loved their dentists and they can’t believe it when they learn that they now have advanced peridontal (gum) disease! They can’t understand why they were never told this before. I could tell them, but I don't want to be blackballed in this community should they decide to take legal action. So I will tell Dear Abby, and hope that you tell them:
These dentists were trained in an era of dentistry that did not understand peridontal disease, and they haven’t learned anything since.
Dentures were something that were expected by most older people in the 1920s through the 1950s.
Today we know that gum disease is a bacterial infection caused by plaque—the same bacteria that cause decay. The plaque hardens into calculus (tartar) if it is not removed. The usual place of calculus formation is at the gum line, and it eventually extends beneath the gum. if not removed. It is beneath the gum that calculus does the most damage, for here it attacks the bone that supports the teeth. The bone slowly “dissolves itself to get away from the irritating calculus. It takes years before the teeth will loosen—and eventually be lost.
More often than not, the patients I see have no calculus visible when looking in their mouths. Their former dentist removed what he could see, but left the calculus under the gums, allowing the disease to continue. He either was unaware that it was there because he failed to keep up with modern dental education, or he was unwilling to change and felt that curing peridontal disease is “modern hogwash.” Consequently, the majority of his patients are suffering from advanced gum disease.
Peridontal disease is usually not painful until the final stages. However, there are warning signs. There are several stages—and all are curable until one reaches the most advanced stage.
Only a competent dentist is able to tell you what stage you are in and what treatment is needed. Usually
all that is needed in the beginning stages is a thorough cleaning and a good home-care program.
The symptoms to look for are: red and swollen gums; bleeding when one brushes (healthy gums never bleed); a bad taste or odor from the mouth.
In the advanced stages, the bleeding stops because the gums have formed a type of scar tissue around the tooth. (If you’ve had bleeding for years, and then it stops, it doesn’t necessarily mean the
problem has gone away.)
Abby, I know this is very long, but the public needs to know the whole story. Let me say that not all older dentists are uninformed, but the vast majority have not kept up with the times, and their unsuspecting patients pay a terrible price.
I hope you deem this important enough to print. I’m signing my name if you want to check me out, but I prefer to remain anonymous for obvious reasons.
DENTAL HYGIENIST
I
Medical & Respiratory Specialists Equipment
All Pharmacy Services
353 Landa St.
Mew Braunfels, Tx.
625-7777 We Deliver & Set-up
Cathy
HCb A DOCTOR?? CATHY YOU ASKED HKV) OUT AND HCS A DOCTOR UTI
’N
A PARAMOUR PICI DRE
Sat. A Sun. 2:10 4:15 7:10 9:15 Mon. thru FU. 7:10 9:15 Monday Is Bargain Day All Seats S2.50
'290 W San Antonio 625 441J
? mil
CLINT EASTWOOD
BUAT REYNOLDS
u ncTiMvjuj:
Mon.-Fri. 7:15 9:15 Sat. & Sun. 1:15 3:15fFT5[7riS 9:15
(SU
Bargain
He taught him the secret to Karate...
the Karate Kid
columbia
IATjJ pictures
Mon.- Frt. 7:00 9:20 Sat. * Sun. 2:00r(:3d 7:00 9:20 Bargain^
CABLE
TELEVISION
ti tlix Br/tfi /tao/ yf'ti coft tin A
iBOiOii tIi fit UH-tt oil tjSCUl Httd ti tin Witt
t!if*n!$ yf*ti ^04, '/■ff-y ft^teA Aittj} cu+tJn '.i^tt-A
Give Cable Television for Christmas this Year.
FREE INSTALLATION!
Bring this coupon into our office, add any new premium service and receive this loveable Mickey Mouse doll absolutely
FREE!
New Braunfels Cable Comm.
160 Highway 81 West 625-3408
Seguin Cable Comm. 1239 E. College St. 379-1505
CHARLENE, GET A GRIP ON YOURSELF. BRIGHT, SUCCESSFUL WOMEN DO NOT LEAP UP AND DOWN IN THE IA0IES ROOM SCREAMING, "HE'S A DOCTOR I’’ANYMORE.
J
7 HCS NOT A LAWYER (TTT
r \ I--
rrhra
I
POE5 SANTA CLAUS MAYE ATTLE OR A RANK ?
ref
I PONT KNOL!.. I VE
never Thought about it.. 4
Annie
I LL PUT POuiN
LIEUTENANT colonel
J
'N'
...WHEN WILL APPLETON BE
THEY RE BE NG
Li8BPBV'5
PREP4PEP pr-
closing
NOW, MBS. LENCE/
SIB, ]] "
mf
V
-'to. 'N
Dick Tracy
phone in the vestibule —ISN'T .THERE? I
AP - ■ WH
• - non carefully!
♦
{< \ I -
:C\;4
J
it,
ft)
iyl
Gasoline Alley
.S7ES, GROOVY?" "I’M LEAVING the DEPARTMENT- TURNING IN MY BADGE — ”
Renting the rooms next door could solve evergthii Clovis/ r
V
(you told Rover not toT Did TMcwed"
ri. r ==* hut he I iv hat ? I
did/
Tank McNamara
DON'T TOL MC TUC
OUTSTAMplkXS coulee football lidoaam gets tug uok/6&&pi tfaopUY
LYj: i:
I PIGU2G.P GI DCC TUG CMCEF. HAD TO use A fCXZK LIFT TO IT
uouu'o you
KNOUJ?
Tarzan
Nancy
that DRIPPING FAUCET IS DRIVING /AE CRAZY I
~V '
HOW AZA I SUPPOSED TO WORK WITH ALL THIE RACKET s»
WHEN IZA DOING /AY KO/AEWORK, I NEED TOTAL CONCENTRATION.'
;